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Individual and Community level Developmental Adversities: Associations with Marijuana and Alcohol Use in Late-Adolescents and Young Adults

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Abstract

Exposure to community and individual level stressors during adolescence has been reported to be associated with increased substance use. However, it remains unclear what the relative contribution of different community- and individual-level factors play when alcohol and marijuana use become more prevalent during late adolescence. The present study uses a large longitudinal sample of adolescents (Wave 1: N = 2017; 55% Female; 54.5% White, 22.3% Black, 8% Hispanic, 15% other) to evaluate the association and potential interactions between community- and individual-level factors and substance use from adolescence to young adulthood (Wave 1 to Wave 3 Age Mean [SD]: 16.7 [1.1], 18.3 [1.2], 19.3 [1.2]). Across three waves of data, multilevel modeling (MLM) is used to evaluate the association between community affluence and disadvantage, individual household socioeconomic status (SES, measured as parental level of education and self-reported public assistance) and self-reported childhood maltreatment with self-reported 12-month alcohol and 12-month marijuana use occasions. Sample-selection weights and attrition-adjusted weights are accounted for in the models to evaluate the robustness of the estimated effects. Across the MLMs, there is a significant positive association between community affluence and parental education with self-reported alcohol use but not self-reported marijuana use. In post hoc analyses, higher neighborhood affluence in older adolescents is associated with higher alcohol use and lower use in younger adolescents; the opposite association is found for neighborhood disadvantage. Consistent with past literature, there is a significant positive association between self-reported childhood maltreatment and self-reported 12-month alcohol and 12-month marijuana use. Results are largely consistent across weighted and unweighted analyses, however, in weighted analyses there is a significant negative association between community disadvantage and self-reported 12-month alcohol use. This study demonstrates a nuanced relationship between community- and individual-level factors and substance use during the transitional window of adolescence which should be considered when contextualizing and interpreting normative substance use during adolescence.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD; R01HD075806, D.P. Keating, Principal Investigator). The authors thank Peter Batra, Joshua Hatfield, Meredith House, Kyle Kwaiser, Kathleen LaDronka and the U-M Survey Research Operations staff for their support. Portions of these data were presented at the 2017 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.

Authors’ Contributions

MD conceived of the research project, conducted the statistical analysis, and wrote the manuscript; EH helped with conception of the research project, design and executive of study, organized the data, assisted with obtaining and operationalizing variables using geographically coded data and helped with writing and reviewing the manuscript; LD calculated calibration and attrition weights, reran sensitivity analyses, and helped with writing and reviewing the manuscript; CE helped with the literature review, statistical analysis and writing and reviewing the manuscript; YS calculated calibration and attrition weights, and writing and reviewing the manuscript; CW assisted with obtaining and operationalizing variables from geocoded data, and writing and reviewing the manuscript; PC assisted with obtaining and operationalizing variables from geocoded data, and writing and reviewing the manuscript; and DK helped with conception of the research project, design and executive of study and writing and reviewing the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Grants R01HD075806 (PI: Keating), K01HD091416 (PI: Maslowsky), and R24HD042849 (to the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, of which Maslowsky is a faculty affiliate). MD was also supported by the NICHD Developmental Psychology Training Grant (5T32HD007109-34, V.C. McLoyd & C.S. Monk) and the Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral Individual Research Service Award through the National Institute on Drug Abuse (F32DA055334).

Data Sharing Declaration

The investigators are committed to sharing the data generated through this research, however, data collection is currently ongoing and is not currently publicly available. Under the terms of our grant, we intend to make data available to the wider research community. This includes all self-report, neurocognitive, and imaging parameters which will be included in the database, along with demographic information that does not risk confidentiality.

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Correspondence to Michael I. Demidenko.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

The study has been granted ethical approval by the University of Michigan Institutional review Board. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from parents of all minor participants included in the study. Minor participants also provided assent to participate. Participants aged 18 and older provided informed consent to participate.

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Demidenko, M.I., Huntley, E.D., Du, L. et al. Individual and Community level Developmental Adversities: Associations with Marijuana and Alcohol Use in Late-Adolescents and Young Adults. J. Youth Adolescence 53, 799–813 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-023-01881-9

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